On February 25, Chief Judge Davis of the Eastern District of Texas unveiled an alternative case management track available for patent suits filed in the District. This option, dubbed Track B, is intended to complement the default procedures of the traditional case-management scheme (now known as Track A) by providing litigants with the choice for a faster, less expensive route for resolving patent cases. Track B may be invoked sua sponte by the court or by joint agreement of the parties. Otherwise, Track A will control. The expedited Track B requires the disclosure of infringement and invalidity contentions, prior licenses or settlement agreements related to the patents-in-suit, proposed claim constructions, plaintiff’s damage model, and a summary of sales information for the accused products within merely eighty-two days from the filing of the answer or 12(b) motion. This information may not be available for over a year in a suit following Track A. The accelerated schedule seeks to provide the parties and the court with a substantial amount of case-specific information in a very short period of time. And, in turn, to force the parties to assess—at an early stage—the economic impact of litigation.

It will be interesting to see the effects of this fast-track method on litigation in the Eastern District: Will courts liberally transfer cases to Track B or entertain motions to place cases on Track B? Will parties see mutual benefit? Or, will Track B become a rarely used alternative with little impact on patent litigation in the District? Only time will tell.

Source: http://www.txed.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/view_document.cgi?document=24330

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